In his victory speech, Donald Trump took the stage, thanked his supporters, and gave a special mention of his friends and family.
In his victory speech, he said, ” This was a movement like no one has ever seen before” and, “I’m going to help our country heal; we have a country that needs help very badly”. Addressing his supporters, he said, “We are going to make you happy; we are going to make you very proud of your vote”.
After thanking his family and campaign team, Trump addressed the crowd, who were eager to hear more about his recent connection with tech mogul Elon Musk.
“We have a new star; a star is born: Elon,” Trump declared, adding, “He’s an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight. You know, he spent two weeks in Philadelphia, in different parts of Pennsylvania, campaigning.”
He then recounted a recent SpaceX launch that had garnered widespread attention. “You know, the rocket launch — the booster landed in the arms of the SpaceX launch tower just minutes after it took off,” he shared, visibly impressed by the achievement.
Trump also took a moment to highlight the significance of Musk’s Starlink technology, which had provided much-needed assistance in times of crisis. “He brought the internet to people in North Carolina who were affected by the hurricanes,” Trump said, emphasizing Musk’s contribution to disaster relief efforts.
“He had it there so fast it was incredible,” Trump said.
How Trump and Elon Became Allies
Over the course of a single election cycle, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have gone from adversaries to unlikely allies. Musk, who became a U.S. citizen in 2002, once identified as a “moderate Democrat” but turned against the party during the Biden administration. In 2022, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO declared that the Democratic Party had become “the party of division & hate” and announced he would vote Republican.
Despite his shift, Musk remained critical of Trump, tweeting in July 2022, “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” adding that another Trump campaign would create “too much drama” and a “bull in a china shop situation every single day.” Trump responded, accusing Musk of lying about his vote in 2020—an accusation Musk denied.
In 2023, Musk told The New York Times that he would not vote for Biden but hesitated to endorse Trump, calling it a “difficult choice.” However, after purchasing Twitter in 2022 and rebranding it to X, Musk reinstated Trump’s account. Two days after an assassination attempt in July 2024, Musk formally endorsed him and threw his support behind Trump’s campaign, even assisting with the get-out-the-vote efforts through his America PAC.
Musk’s father, Errol, attributed this change to his son’s growing recognition of “common sense,” noting, “He was quite upset about the idea in the beginning – more than upset. He was very anti-Trump a few years ago, and he’s changed now.”
About Elon
Elon Reeve Musk, born June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, is a renowned businessman and investor, best known for his leadership in SpaceX and Tesla, Inc. He is also the owner of X Corp., which operates the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), and has founded or co-founded several other ventures, including Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI. As of August 2024, his net worth is estimated by Forbes at $247 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Musk’s early life was marked by a blend of privilege and adversity. His mother, Maye, a Canadian-born model and dietitian, and his father, Errol, a South African engineer and businessman, gave him access to a comfortable lifestyle. However, his parents’ divorce in 1980 had a lasting emotional impact. Musk chose to live with his father, but their relationship soured over the years. Musk’s education began at various schools in South Africa, including Pretoria Boys High School, where he was bullied and even hospitalized after an attack by a classmate. Musk’s love of books and technology developed early; he taught himself computer programming at age 10 and sold a video game, Blastar, for $500 at age 12.
In 1989, Musk left South Africa for Canada to avoid mandatory military service and to pursue greater opportunities. After briefly attending the University of Pretoria, he moved to Canada and worked odd jobs before transferring to Queen’s University in Ontario. Two years later, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned dual degrees in economics from Wharton and physics. During this time, Musk showed his entrepreneurial drive, hosting parties to fund his tuition and drafting a business plan for a digital book scanning service, a precursor to Google Books.
In 1995, Musk dropped out of a Stanford PhD program after just two days to seize opportunities in the burgeoning internet industry. He co-founded Zip2, a city guide software company, which was sold for $307 million. Musk used his earnings to create X.com, which eventually became PayPal and was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk used this fortune to start SpaceX, setting the stage for his continued success in the space, energy, and tech industries.
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